12:39, 23 September 2003

Ravil Gainutdin: "We are not interested in having Moslems join the extremist ranks"

The Moslem clergy are not interested in having Moslems join the extremist ranks, Ravil Gainutdin, Chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis, told a Monday conference of Russian Moslems in Moscow, entitled "Tolerance as the Basis for the Well-Being of Multinational Russia". Gainutdin said he thought the so-called Wahhabi sentiments among some of the young Moslems were caused by the poor quality of Islamic education, the inability to communicate with extremist-minded people and make them change their mind.

"The ones who take up arms and engage in terrorist activities are also fighting against the Moslem clergy. They have nothing in common with true Wahhabism and Islamic doctrine," he stressed. He told participants in the conference that the mufti of Chechnya, whose son had been killed by terrorists earlier this year, was present among them. "My co-chairman was also killed by terrorists in Makhachkala," noted the head of the Russian Council of Muftis.

Source: RIA Novosti